I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for handling trash bags, garbage bags and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to hand tools with pistol-grip-activated jaws for grasping, manipulating and transporting bags of trash or garbage. Known prior art pertaining to the invention may be found in United States Patent Class 294, Subclasses 29, 30 and 31.1 and elsewhere.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Garbage and trash accumulate constantly in households. Numerous prior art structures have been designed for handling various types of flexible, disposable bags made of materials such as paper, fabric and/or plastic. Typical bags include garbage bags of various capacities, lawn and garden bags, various sizes of wastebasket bags or liners, and the like. Such flexible bags are often difficult to retain in an open position for convenient loading, especially where spilling is to be avoided. When armfuls of leaves, cut grass, weeds and the like are to be loaded within the bags for subsequent disposal, ease of filling becomes a major design imperative. Of course the minimization of spillage is a persistent goal.
Thus the prior art reflects a number of portable, hand-operated tools that can be used to store, manipulate and/or transport garbage bags, trash bags and similar items. Sometimes structure capable of manipulating diverse bags is capable of additional diverse functions. There are many city and municipal laws or ordinances requiring the cleanup of animal waste from parkways, trails, walkways and the like. Similar requirements are effective at hotels and motels, and they are promulgated in leases and condominium agreements. Of course it is desirable to employ sanitary pick-up means or devices for cleaning up the droppings from dogs, cats, horses, and other animals. Ideal devices should enable the control, loading, transportation and disposal of the bags or containers used to captivate the refuse in a sanitary manner that is as safe, clean, and as fast as practicable. It is particularly desirable to accomplish rapid cleanup in a sanitary manner without contaminating or soiling the user's hands or clothing.
The typical non-commercial, plastic garbage bag utilized by most consumers may be packaged and sold in a roll. After a user unrolls an individual bag, it must be subsequently grasped and manipulated with ones fingers to properly open the bag. The abutting plastic sides must be dislodged from one another, and this can be difficult, as the bags are tightly stored in a compressed form in the roll with bag sides, which are sometimes sticky, forcibly abutting one another. Opening the bag by unfolding or unwrapping the bag sides from their previous side-by-side, compressive disposition is often difficult and time consuming, if not annoying. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain the bag in an open position, once it is finally unwrapped and unfolded and then deployed. Even after unwrapping and deployment, it is difficult to maintain and hold garbage bags in an accessible, user friendly orientation. Unfilled bags tend to sag and droop. Full and partially filled bags tend not only to droop, but to spill their contents as well.
Thus, there are numerous prior art devices for holding disposable garbage bags in an upright, open position.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,445 issued Oct. 27, 1987 depicts a bag support device for expanding and holding garbage bags. The bag support device comprises a pair of interlocking support rings engageable with the disposable bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,271 issued Jun. 8, 1993 illustrates a portable bag holder that may be used to support a single garbage bag or a pair of garbage bags. The bag holder can support a pair of garbage bags when trash is segregated into recyclable and non-recyclable items. A pair of bungee cords are attached to the holder to secure the bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,703 issued Jul. 23, 1991 shows a garbage bag holder comprising numerous ring assemblies that maintain captivated bags in a vertically stabilized, open configuration. The ring assemblies include primary rings which are cantilevered from racks having offset supports, and secondary rings that lock bags to the primary rings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,941 issued Jan. 3, 1995 shows a support for holding a disposable waste bag in a kitchen sink. The device comprises an open frame through which the waste bag may be inserted with the bottom of the bag supported upon the floor of the sink. The top portion of the bag is folded over the frame with provisions for clamping the folded-over portion to retain the bag. The support frame or a hinge for the frame is affixed by suction cups, glue or the like, to the sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,311 issued May 30, 2000 discloses a portable pickup and transporting device for animal droppings and the like that permits the user to collect material in a disposable bag supported on device for ready removal and replacement by a fresh bag. The pickup device includes an elongated body having a handle at one end and a pickup arrangement at its other end. The pickup arrangement includes a stationary bail fixed to a yoke carried on the body and a movable bail carried on the yoke. An actuating mechanism carried on the body includes an elongated rod having a lever mechanism adjacent to the handle and an offset connection for actuating the movable bail.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,744,136 issued Jun. 29, 2010 discloses a collection and bagging device for collecting and disposing of refuse or fecal matter at a distance from a user. The device comprises a handle with an actuating trigger. A foldable extension shaft terminates in a set of claws actuated by a cable extending to the trigger. The claws, which are spring biased towards a normally open position, have teeth that intermesh with each other when in a closed position to get beneath the refuse or material being collected. Once refuse is collected, the device can be raised to a horizontal position, thereby causing the collected material to fall into the attached bag for easy disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,618,073 issued Nov. 17, 2009 discloses a portable, hand-operated tool for collecting waste in a bag, comprising an elongated shaft member, a ring member, and two clamps. The tool provides for the securing of a bag on the ring member such that no part of the ring member or the outside surface of the bag may come in contact with the waste to be collected. The tool utilizes an arcuate ring member and there is substantially no angle between the ring member and the elongated shaft member.
U. S. Pat. No. Application No. 20120091174 published Apr. 19, 2012 shows a hand-held trash bag holder that may be easily carried. The holder comprises a rigid frame and a plurality of clips that attach to, and hold open, a garbage bag. The support frame has a forearm support that extends from it, which the user secures to his or her forearm, along with a gripping handle that the user holds in his or her hand. The device keeps the bag open for easy trash placement. The device may also be attached to a user's belt with a clip for transport when not in use.
Notwithstanding the foregoing prior art attempts at providing garbage bag manipulators, the are does not reflect a pistol-grip system for controlling a typical plastic garbage bag